Tags 10 Phones Share your voice Comments Rumors Sprint T-Mobile T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger may have hit another government snag. Josh Miller/CNET T-Mobile and Sprint have hit another government roadblock in their quest to merge. A group of 10 state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, filed a multistate lawsuit Monday to stop the pending $26 billion deal. The antitrust lawsuit claims that the merger would “deprive consumers of the benefits of competition and drive up prices for cellphone services.” The suit was filed in New York federal court in coordination with Colorado, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Connecticut, Virginia, and Wisconsin, the New York attorney general’s office announced. “The T-Mobile and Sprint merger would not only cause irreparable harm to mobile subscribers nationwide by cutting access to affordable, reliable wireless service for millions of Americans, but would particularly affect lower-income and minority communities here in New York and in urban areas across the country,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “That’s why we are going to court to stop this merger and protect our consumers, because this is exactly the sort of consumer-harming, job-killing megamerger our antitrust laws were designed to prevent.” T-Mobile and Sprint did not immediately respond to a CNET request for comment. In a press conference, James said that by opposing the deal the attorneys general are “standing up for consumers, standing up for economic development and standing up innovation and standing up for lower prices.” James did, however, say that her office has reached out to the Department of Justice, T-Mobile and Sprint and that “negotiations are ongoing.” Reuters first reported that the 10 attorneys general were looking to block the deal. Since being announced last year, T-Mobile’s push to merge with Sprint has been met with strong government pushback over concerns it would harm competition. In February, nine Senate Democrats signed a letter addressed to Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai urging the agency to block the deal, writing that the merger is “likely to raise prices for consumers, harm workers, stifle competition, exacerbate the digital divide, and undermine innovation.” Several presidential candidates signed off on the letter, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Cory Booker of New Jersey. House Democrats, led by freshman congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, followed suit shortly thereafter by sending a similar letter to Pai and Department of Justice head Makan Delrahim outlining their opposition to the deal, stressing how it would “disproportionately hurt lower-income people and communities of color.” That letter was signed by 36 other representatives. In May Pai and the FCC gave a thumbs up to the deal with the chairman touting the deal’s potential improvements for 5G network deployment and increasing coverage in rural America. The DOJ has yet to rule, though the staff of the department has recommended that the agency sue to stop the deal. James said the litigation will continue even if the DOJ approves the merger. “DOJ and FCC have broad standards,” James told reporters. “We are viewing this primarily through the lens of competition, prices, innovation… as a result of our review, based upon the law, we’ve come to a determination that it is a violation of antitrust laws.” T-Mobile and Sprint have a deadline of July 29 to complete their merger. Update, 10 a.m. PT: Adds New York attorney general comment.Update, 10:26 a.m. PT: The New York attorney general’s office clarified that Connecticut, not Nevada, had participated in the lawsuit. Update, 1:02 p.m. PT: Adds additional comment from the New York attorney general. read more

2 Earlier this month, the company said it’ll prompt European users of its Android operating system to choose their own search engine from 2020, after the European Commission’s determination last year that Google could be hampering consumer choice by demanding that its own apps and services must be the preinstalled, default options on Android phones. This saw Google getting slapped with a record 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine, which it’s appealing.In the US, the Department of Justice last month said it’s opening an antitrust probe into tech giants, including Google parent company Alphabet, to examine their market power.First published at 4:11 a.m. PT.Updated at 6:45 a.m. PT: Adds EC confirmation about the letter. 1:49 Share your voice Google wants to make your job search easier Internet Services Google noted in its own emailed statement that it’s “worked with jobs providers” to improve its search function.”Any provider — from individual employers to job listing platforms — can use this feature in search, and many of them have seen a significant increase in the number of job applications they receive. Since launch, we’ve made a number of changes to address feedback in Europe,” a Google spokesperson wrote.”These changes include testing a new choice carousel at the top of the unit, which links directly to job sites, and linking directly to job offers when they only exist on a single site. Job seekers can decide which result or experience is most relevant for them.” Google’s 2-year-old job search service drew an antitrust complaint in the EU. Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Google faces another antitrust allegation in the European Union — this time focused on its job search service. A group of 23 job search websites sent a letter to EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager saying the search giant abused its dominant position at their expense, according to Reuters.The company launched the service in 2017, and later amped it up by adding information on salary and the ability to search for jobs by location.The rival companies alleged that Google’s putting a large widget for its service at the top of people’s job searches is unfair because it doesn’t have to spend any money marketing the service, while traditional job search companies do. They asked Vestager to temporarily order Google to stop doing this while she looks into its practices, Reuters reported.”We confirm we have received the letter and we will assess it,” a European Commission spokesperson wrote an emailed statement. Comments Now playing: Watch this: The wildest things Google owns (pictures) Tags 33 Photos Antitrust Googleread more

Tags The 29 best games on the Nintendo Switch Comment 1 DayZ. Bohemia Interactive Australia has long had an issue with video game classification.Thanks to legislation initially put in place in the ’90s, Australia didn’t have an “adults only” or equivalent AO rating until 2013. Until then movies, TV shows and most other media could be rated “R18+,” but not video games. But even after the addition of an R18+ classification for video games, video games are still treated differently in Australia, mainly as a result of the idea that “interactivity” adds impact to any sex, violence or drug use featured. Since the introduction of its R18+ rating, Australia has still banned a significant number of video games. This week has been especially strange.It started with DayZ earlier this month. DayZ, a precursor of games like Fortnite and Apex Legends had been available digitally for years, but as a result of an official retail release, Five Star Games, the local distributor of DayZ, had to go through Australia’s government run classification process, where it was refused classification — effectively banned in Australia.Five Star Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Now today, Kotaku Australia has found three more titles that have also been refused classification in Australia. We Happy Few, Hotline Miami and the codenamed “Bonaire”, which is thought to be downloadable content for Red Dead Redemption 2.Interestingly, like DayZ, We Happy Few and Hotline Miami had already been classified in Australia, but as a result of either re-releases or upcoming DLC had to be re-classified. Unlike in regions like Europe or the US, in which industry bodies like the ESRB are trusted to self-regulate the classification of video games or movies, Australia’s classification is government-run. Ratings are provided by the Australian Classification Board. But the board is, for the most part, the messenger, working from guidelines agreed upon by government. Video games in Australia are most frequently banned as a result of drug use. According to the classification guidelines, any video game where drug use is incentivised (as a “power up” that benefits the player for example) can result in a ban. That’s almost certainly why We Happy Few’s DLC was refused classification and it appears to be the reason why DayZ was banned earlier this month.The Australian Classification Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Culture Gaming Share your voice 29 Photosread more

Princess Diana smiles wearing a Cambridge tiara during a dinner and a reception at the British Embassy in Washington, DC on November 10, 1985.REUTERSThe chances of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry calling their child Diana are high. As was revealed by bookmaker Coral in the RoyalFamily website. The firm, Coral, has gotten monstrous wagers from punters, with many trusting that this will be the name of the infant.The chances that the newborn will be a young lady has already been betted heavily upon and the most recent chances come only days after Diana was way off the mark to fixing as a top choice. Another name that shares the same situation is Elizabeth, both scooping chances of 6-1. Following up is Victoria at 8-1, with Grace and Alice both stuck at 12-1.And if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to have a baby boy then James and Arthur can be wagered on at 16-1. Elizabeth had shot to the highest point of our wagering throughout the most recent week or somewhere in the vicinity however punters have now come in for Diana afresh,” Harry Aitkenhead, from Coral, stated. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagementChris Jackson/Getty Images”The pair are presently joint-top choices in the market at 6-1 and it appears that Royal fans are persuaded the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will pay tribute to a noticeable individual from the family when they’re picking the name of their first kid.” He further included, “At this stage now we would be stunned on the off chance that it was a kid, and we scarcely taking any wagers on those names at the moment.”James and Arthur are the two most limited valued yet are well back in the market at 16-1.”Meghan, 37, plans to have a home birth at the Frogmore Cottage with Prince Harry, 34, close by. She plans to emulate the Queen’s example, who brought forth her four youngsters at her regal living arrangements.Though, the Duchess of Sussex has not discounted for an emergency clinic conveyance because of the complications that are usually associated with women above 35 years of age.read more

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina during her interaction with Gulf News in Abu Dhabi. – Photo courtesy: Gulf NewsPrime minister Sheikh Hasina has wondered why India’s parliament passed ‘Indian Citizenship Amendment Bill’ meant to give citizenship to minorities that faced “religious persecution” in neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh.The Bangladesh premier expressed her views in an interview with Gulf News in the UAE capital on Tuesday.“Why [us] this bill…I don’t understand,” she was quoted to have said. “Is it for election purpose?” Sheikh Hasina reportedly asked with a smile.Gulf News quoted her as saying that she never felt that the bill meant to blame Bangladesh for religious persecution of minorities in the country.“I don’t think so. There is no such [religious persecution] in Bangladesh. Some incidents have happened. But we took immediate action,” the premier was quoted to have said.She said religious extremism and terrorism are a global problem. “It is not in Bangladesh alone.”Sheikh Hasina reportedly said her understanding was that people in India are also not happy with the bill. “I think they [India] should not do anything that create tension.”Referring to her actions against Indian insurgents, who tried to operate from Bangladesh, she said, “They should consider all these factors as a neighbouring country.”read more

The Railway Budget proposals, presented by Union Minister Suresh Prabhu in Parliament on Thursday, proposed a hike in freight rates for 12 commodities in the range of 0.8 per cent to 10 per cent.The increase in freight charges by 10 per cent on urea is also expected to add to the subsidy burden. “With the increase in freight, the subsidy paid for movement of urea will increase by another Rs 300 crore from current level of Rs 3,000 crore,” Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) DG Satish Chander said. Also Read – I-T issues 17-point checklist to trace unaccounted DeMO cashThe proposed freight hike for cement, coal, iron and steel, grains & pulses, groundnut oil, LPG and kerosene is 2.7 per cent, 6.3 per cent, 0.8 per cent, 10 per cent, 2.1 per cent, 0.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. “Our cost of production will go up in the range between Rs 2 and Rs 4 per bag of 50 kg cement,” Dalmia Bharat Cement Group CEO Mohendra Singi said. When asked whether the company would raise the prices, he said: “The price is a factor of demand and supply, so we will take a call on this later.” Further, a leading cement maker said the prices of cement bags may go up in the range of between Rs 5 and Rs 10 per bag following the hike in freight rate on coal, steel and cement. Meanwhile, there was a mixed response from steel companies which said the proposed Rs 8.5 lakh crore investment in Railways in the next five years would spur demand for steel, but that they were a bit disappointed as the Minister did not lower freight rates despite lower diesel prices now. Also Read – Lanka launches ambitious tourism programme to woo Indian tourists“The freight hike in the Budget on iron and steel will have little impact on us,” spokesperson of a leading steel firm said. Prabhu has also proposed to raise freight rates for iron ore meant for domestic use by 0.8 per cent. On urea, Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar said despite the increase in freight rates, there will not be any increase in urea prices.“We will continue to provide urea at the same rate of Rs 5,360 per tonne. It will only increase subsidy on urea”. The Railway Minister did not term the freight increase in some commodities as a hike, saying it is part of the ongoing re-classification of commodities that will reduce freight rates in certain sectors and may increase in others. Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha, said that there will not be any increase in urea prices for farmers. However, for limestone, dolomite & manganese and speed diesel oil, the rates have been reduced by 0.3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. The Railways Minister has also proposed to raise the base freight rates by up to 10 per cent.read more

February 21, 2008 Listen Now Hear from Polar Explorers, ultra marathoners, authors, artists and a range of other unique personalities to better understand the traits that make excellence possible. A notebook PC is a handy thing to have, but lugging one around everywhere you go can be downright inconvenient. Fortunately, there’s a solution that fits right in your pocket: The ubiquitous USB flash drive, often called a keychain or thumb drive.With the right device and software, you can plug your flash drive into a computer at an Internet cafe, hotel business center, or elsewhere, and have all the tools and files you need to do your work–complete with your own personal launch menu. Sure, you can use online applications like Google Docs or Zoho Office (see Life Without Desktop Software for more on these), but a flash drive lets you carry a much wider variety of the applications, utilities, and other fun doodads you’ve come to depend on.Here’s everything you need, from hardware to software and beyond, to get going in the world of pocket computing.Harness the Right HardwareTo get the most out of portable computing, you need a good flash drive. Here are some things to consider:Take a drive on the reading edge. The faster your flash drive, the more smoothly programs will run. When shopping for a drive, look at the specs and try to find one with a read rate of 15 mbps (megabits per second; in megabytes, 1.9 MBps) or faster. If you already have a flash drive, you can test its speed with a free utility like HDTach for Windows.Look for high-speed USB. A USB 2.0 flash drive will perform much better than USB 1.x. Make sure the drive you buy specifies USB 2.0 or “high-speed USB.”U3 or not U3? Some flash drives (notably those from SanDisk) are labeled “U3,” meaning they use a proprietary format to create applications for USB drives. Such drives usually come with a built-in pop-up program launcher called LaunchPad and a few programs, or they at least link to a Web page for downloading and installing free and for-pay U3 applications. SanDisk claims that only U3-compatible programs will run on such a drive, but I had no problem running U3 and non-U3 programs side by side on the same memory stick. (However, don’t expect your non-U3 apps to show up on the U3 launch menu.)With so many portable applications available from a variety of free sources these days, you don’t necessarily have to get a U3-equipped drive. If you do have one, you can either take advantage of the LaunchPad feature and its various apps, or you can find utilities for removing U3 LaunchPad software from SanDisk drives and from non-SanDisk drives. And if you change your mind about such removal, SanDisk has a free tool for getting it back.Snag the Best SoftwareOnce you’ve got the flash drive of your choice, it’s time to stock up with the tools you’ll need when you’re away from your regular system. The term “portable software” usually refers to an application that can run from a single folder (usually on a removable device) without adding any files or Registry entries to the host system. Although this leaves out the traditional behemoths like Microsoft Office or Adobe’s Creative Suite, you can still find a lot of handy software that meets the portable requirement.Your suite is waiting. If you want an all-in-one package of basics–spreadsheet, word processor, graphics–you can have your pick of portable suites, all completely free (in some cases, donations are accepted).An excellent collection is Portable Apps, which comes in two sizes, Standard (260MB installed) and Lite (105MB installed). Both versions include an antivirus program, a Web browser (Mozilla Firefox), an instant messenger (Gaim), a Sudoku game, a calendar and task manager (Mozilla Sunbird), and an e-mail client (Mozilla Thunderbird). The Standard version also comes with a portable version of the OpenOffice suite, while the Lite version has the AbiWord word processor instead.Another all-in-one free collection can be found in winPenPack. The winPenPack suites come in more flavors than Portable Apps–Essential, 1Gb, School, Game, Web–and there is even an option to make your own. You can also download individual applications. The offerings fall into a wide range of categories–from office, Internet, graphics, multimedia, and development to security, system, and utilities. The choices include considerable overlap with PortableApps, with both offering Mozilla and OpenOffice products, for example.What’s for launch? Running your portable applications will be easier if you have a pop-up menu launcher. You’ll find one in U3 flash drives, as well as in both PortableApps and winPenPack. In each case, an icon is added to the taskbar tray (the icon-studded area near the clock); click it to see a Start-menu equivalent that lists the applications on your flash drive. Personally, I find the winPenPack launcher to be the most flexible and easiest to customize. You can download this launcher separately from winPenPack. If none of those meet your needs, you can try still another free portable app launcher, PStart, from Pegtop Software.Roam the lands of the free. But big collections are not the only place to find portable applications. Sometimes you can find a portable version of your favorite program just by using your favorite search engine, entering the application name and then “portable” as keywords.Other good places include sites like Portable Freeware and the portable freeware section of Ned Wolf’s Absolutely Free Software site. Another site where you can find a portable section is Snapfiles.Finally, try entering the keyword “portable” in the search box of your favorite software download page–for example, at (where else?) PC World Downloads.Do Right by Your DataWhether you carry your work files with you on your flash drive or store them online, you’ll still need to take some precautions to protect those files, your privacy, and your computers from harm, whether accidental or malicious. Here are some steps to consider.Scan for safety. Since using your USB drive on an unknown computer exposes the drive to additional risks, be sure to install antispyware and antivirus software as part of your set of portable applications. As an additional precaution, scan the flash drive itself from your regular computer the next time you return home to make sure it didn’t pick up any bugs.Use common sense. Because a host computer like one in a hotel business center or an Internet cafe may have keyloggers that record your passwords, portable computing can never be 100 percent safe. But you can limit the risk by avoiding credit-card transactions when using your portable system on another machine. And it goes without saying that you should avoid online banking in these situations.Shred it; don’t sweat it. If you’re working on sensitive documents, you should keep them encrypted while stored on your flash drive. For example, the open-source program TrueCrypt or the freeware archiving program IZarc2Go both offer encryption features that run on a flash drive.In most cases, you’ll have to copy documents out of the encrypted folder or container before working on them, and then copy them back when you’re done. For added security, use a shredding application to destroy the work copies (after you’ve put a copy back in the encrypted folder of course). CyberShredder and UltraShredder are two free portable utilities that do the job.Back up your portable, too. Because these devices are small and easily misplaced, backing up your portable USB “computer” is arguably even more important than the backups you do for your main system. The applications are much smaller, so backing up is faster, and the resulting files take less room on your backup drive. All of the suites mentioned above include backup utilities.Of course, you don’t really need such a utility; you can always just use Explorer to drag and drop the contents of your flash drive to a backup disk. The important thing is to do it regularly. Brought to you by PCWorld 7 min read How Success Happensread more

Despite the explosion in popularity of e-sports, some still dispute the veracity of gaming being called a “sport”, but sportswear giant Puma doesn’t need any convincing. It has teamed up with gaming gear company Playseat to develop the Playseat | Puma game seat, which was unveiled at Gamescom last week.Charles Johnson, Global Director of Innovation at Puma believes, “we have to start seeing gamers as athletes, with requirements particular to their sport. As a sports company, we want to offer these athletes the products they need to perform at the very top.”Taking the form of an ergonomic rocking chair that makes use of breathable materials and features four knitted side-pockets for storing phones, games controllers and remote controls, we’re not sure the game seat will go all the way to achieving Johnson’s lofty athletic aspirations, but the ability to easily rock back and forward might help get some blood flowing and prevent numb bums in marathon gaming sessions.To prevent the chair sliding about when the action gets frenetic, the chair features rubber feet to provide grip in what the designers call “attack mode” (leaning forward), stability in “cruise mode” (reclining normally), and support in “defense mode” (leaning back).”Gaming is greater with full sitting control,” says Fernando Smit, President and Founder of Playseat. “That’s why we felt the need to change sitting of gamers from the traditional couch or even on the floor in front of their screens, so we created something truly unique.”The Playseat | Puma game seat certainly looks comfortable enough, and who doesn’t like a good rock every now and then, but as with any chair the proof is in the sitting. Those interested in taking a load off and getting their game on can try the seat out from November.Source: Playseat Yes No We recommend Powered by Class Action Lawsuits Filed Against Cancer Genetics Google Analytics settings Startup Farsight Aiming for FDA Clearance of its Genomic Analysis Platform Privacy policy DiaCarta, MIODx to Codevelop Diagnostic to Predict Immunotherapy Response staff reporter, 360Dx, 2018 Drug Testing Firm Ameritox To Close at End of Week, Aegis Acquires Substantial Assets In March, FDA Cleared Tests from Roche, Siemens, Becton Dickinson, and Others I consent to the use of Google Analytics and related cookies across the TrendMD network (widget, website, blog). Learn more 360Dx, 2018 Renee Caruthers, 360Dx, 2018 360Dx, 2018 360Dx, 2018 360Dx, 2018 Vortex Biosciences, BioView Collaborate on Identifying Clinical CTC Biomarkersread more

Tags: Argentina << Previous PostNext Post >> Thursday, March 16, 2017 BUENOS AIRES — Argentina is getting its own budget airline, with seats priced cheaper than those on local buses.According to Lonely Planet, FlyBondi, the country’s first budget airline, is expected to launch domestic flights starting in September. Currently, state-run Aerolineas Argentina dominates the country’s aviation market, and up until now, high operating costs and state-mandated minimum prices have made domestic air travel an impossible venture.The Argentine government says plans for the new airline have been made to boost its slumping economy. Last year, President Mauricio Macri said Argentina would open up 135 new airline routes and that foreign tourists would be refunded a 21% value-added tax on hotel costs.However, there’s still one major hurdle to overcome before celebrations begin: Argentina requires its pilots to be Argentines, which could lead to difficulties in staffing.But if successfully launched, FlyBondi will undoubtedly make it easier to travel around the country. It will offer seats onboard leased Boeing 737s that cost less than lie-flat bed prices on bus journeys that span the same distance. For example, a one-way bus ticket with a lie-flat bed between Buenos Aires and Mendoza – a journey that takes 16 hours – costs about US$100. Alternatively, a seat onboard FlyBondi will start at approximately $78 each way for the two-hour flight. Flying on Argentina’s first budget airline will be cheaper than taking the bus Share Posted by Travelweek Group read more